Factors Predicting Post-Traumatic Positive and Negative Psychological Changes Experienced by Nurses during a Pandemic COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study.

It is common knowledge that COVID-19 affects physiopathological changes in all systems of the human body. On the other hand, events related to the COVID-19 pandemic also have a significant impact on the social and mental sphere of human functioning. The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between selected sociodemographic variables and selected subjective cognitive resources, and the positive and negative perception of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in a group of nurses working in Poland. The computer-assisted web interviewing method was conducted between 1 and 15 May 2020. Participants were requested to complete the following questionnaires: The Changes in Outlook Questionnaire (CIOQ), The Impact Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), The Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), The Safety Experience Questionnaire (SEQ), and The Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ). Three-hundred and twenty fivenurses working all over Poland participated in the study. Their mean age was 39.18 ± 11.16 years. A higher average level was noted among the surveyed nurses in the Positive Change subscale (18.56 ± 4.04). In a multivariate model, taking into account both sociodemographic and cognitive variables, the level of perceived traumatic stress, the level of social support, a sense of security, reflection on safety and a sense of meaning and meaning in life were independent predictors of a positive perception of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Those variables explained as much as 37% of the dependent variable, and the nature of the relationship was positive. While we are still a long way from understanding the full range of the long-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and psychosocial well-being, it is possible that in this challenging context there are many individual resources available to perceive the effects of the current pandemic positively. Therefore, they should be strengthened through the development and implementation of intervention programs to improve the mental state of nurses.

Ultrastructural Changes of Blood Cells in Children with Generalized Purulent Peritonitis: A Cross-Sectional and Prospective Study.

In conditions of abdominal sepsis with indications of first- or second-stage shock, blood cells undergo significant ultrastructural changes that cause impaired gas exchange, changes in reactivity, and decompensation of organs and systems functions. This paper presents a cross-sectional prospective study aimed at researching the ultrastructure of blood cells in children experiencing abdominal septic shock against the background of generalized purulent peritonitis of appendicular origin. This study was conducted with 15 children aged 6-12 who were undergoing treatment for generalized appendicular purulent peritonitis, with first- or second-stage abdominal septic shock, in emergency care. The changes in the ultrastructure of erythrocytes did not correspond to changes characteristic of eryptosis, which confirms their occurrence under the influence of such pathogenic factors as intoxication, metabolic, water-electrolyte balance, and acid-base disorders. Ultrastructural changes of granulocytes indicate their hyperactivation, which leads to the exhaustion of membrane synthetic resources, membrane destruction, ineffective expenditure of bactericidal factors on substrates that are not subject to destruction. In lymphocytes, disorganization of the nuclear membrane and intracellular membranes, uneven distribution of chromatin, the hypertrophied Golgi apparatus, and a large number of young mitochondria, lysosomes, ribosomes, vesicles manifesting the disruption of metabolism, stress and decompensation of energy supply and protein synthesis systems, have been demonstrated. In conditions of abdominal sepsis with indications of first- or second-stage shock, blood cells undergo substantial ultrastructural changes causing gas exchange disruption, changes in reactivity, as well as decompensation of organs and system functioning.